Palestinian Christian Activist Detained for Protesting Land Seizure by ’Israeli’ Settlers

By Staff, Agencies

Alice Kisiya, a Palestinian Christian activist, has been detained by "Israeli" police following her protests against the seizure of her family’s land by armed "Israeli" settlers in the occupied West Bank.

Kisiya, who is set to appear in court on Monday, was detained in connection with the forcible takeover of her family’s property and the expansion of illegal "Israeli" settlements in Al-Makhrour, her hometown.

On July 31, armed "Israeli" settlers, accompanied by "Israeli" military forces, invaded the Kisiya family’s land in Al-Makhrour, evicting her and other Palestinian Christian families.

Since the eviction, Kisiya and Palestinian human rights activists have repeatedly returned to their ancestral land to protest the seizure.

“We will remain here until we reclaim our land,” Kisiya asserted before her arrest. “They exploited the conflict, believing it would silence us, but we will not be silenced.”

The ongoing expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank occurs amid the “Israeli” entity’s extensive military operations against Palestinians in Gaza, which have resulted in over 40,200 deaths.

The Kisiya family, among the last Christian families in the area, has faced threats from illegal settlement expansion for years, with their home and restaurant demolished in 2019.

Owning the land for over 40 years, the Kisiya family has been engaged in a protracted battle to recover their property.

“We have been fighting for over 20 years. We are exhausted, both financially and emotionally, but we will not surrender. Our goal is to reclaim what is rightfully ours,” Kisiya stated to the Art Newspaper in 2023, reflecting on a costly legal struggle.

Al-Makhrour, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014, is at risk due to settlement expansion.

Recently, Bezalel Smotrich, the “Israeli” entity’s so-called finance minister and a prominent advocate of settler-colonialism, authorized the creation of the “Nahal Heletz” settlement, which groups warn will destroy more than 150 acres of the UNESCO-listed Land of Olives and Vines.

“No anti-‘Israeli’ or anti-Zionist resolution will halt the settlement expansion. We will persist in our efforts to undermine the notion of a Palestinian state and establish our presence,” Smotrich wrote on his X page.

Under international law, all “Israeli” settlements in the occupied West Bank are deemed illegal. The International Court of Justice [ICJ] has mandated the cessation of these settlements “as rapidly as possible.”